A correspondent called Glyn
sent us a very strange photograph taken in August last year. The time was
just before midday on 21st August 2004. The location is a hillside about 5
miles south of Wrexham, and is of some importance to Glyn because the ashes of
one of his relatives were scattered here. The left-hand image is the
complete photo, and the bright orb shown has been shown in close-up to the
right. The image is entirely unaltered:

We saw a very similar orb to
this in a picture taken in Gloucestershire, by a man visiting his mother's
graveside. However, that particular orb was taken during a flurry of snow,
so could be readily explained by the weather. Unfortunately, we are not at
liberty to publish that particular photograph.

The images shown here, taken
near Wrexham, does not avail us of the same solution. The orb is surely
too bright and isolated to be a lens flare (although there may be some reflected
light from the cars along the road ahead). A flash was not used, so this
is evidently not reflected light from a dust particle, or anything like that.
To all intents and purposes, this is a highly mysterious image. Glyn, the
photographer, claims some contact with spirit, and is interested in the
paranormal. One wonders whether he has inadvertently photographed a spirit
present with him, as he visits the resting place of his relative's remains?

Glyn has sent through a second
photo, this one taken just 2 minutes after the first, and at a different angle.
Again, this shows a very similar translucent orb (but not exactly the same!)
taken without a flash, in broad daylight. As an aside, orbs such as
these bear a close resemblance to the controversial 'UFO' photo taken in Bonsall,
Derbyshire some years back.

Here's another example of an orb taken by Glyn,
this time whilst fixing his fence in his back garden. This was the only
orb to show up in a series of about 9 digital photos taken at the time.
Note the similar pattern structure to the previous orbs, and the angle of the
orbs with respect to the direct sunlight. These observations suggest that the
orbs may be lens flares whose structure is determined by the internal mechanism
of Glyn's camera.

Buddhist Orbs in Portugal

Our last page showcasing
paranormal photos taken by readers included some sent by a British Buddhist
named Trevor. He recently went to Portugal on a trip to promulgate
knowledge about Therevada Buddhism amongst the Portuguese. He took several
sets of photos containing orbs, some of which were taken during the daytime,
without the use of flash photography. This particular photo is quite
exceptional:

It is worth comparing this
daytime orb with the Wrexham one in the article above. They show very
similar features indeed. So, is this a lens flare generated by direct
sunlight from the left of the picture? Or was this Buddhist group
visiting Portugal travelling with others, unseen? Here's what
Trevor has to say about the expedition:

"We were invited by a
Portugese Buddhist society, myself, anagarika Eduardo (Postulant in white, and
the other photographer, who was also Portugese and looked after us) and Ajahn
Nyanarato (Japanese origin) . We held a weekend retreat in Porto and Ajahn
Nyanarato (18yrs in Robes senior monk, and my mentor when I was in Robes myself)
gave some talks in Lisbon and Porto. We were well received by the people and
everyone was very interested as they have had only Tibetan and Zen Buddhism
there up to now. Theravada is a more straightforward and practical teaching,
closer to the original way taught by the Buddha Himself, so the reason for us
being there was important and even historical maybe, so this is perhaps one
reason why we had such a good presence of Orbs. But that's just my own
reasoning!"

Trevor took a series of photos
inside the Jeronimo Monastery, Lisbon. The orbs picked up are familiar,
being similar to the ones we often capture on our paranormal investigations
around Gloucestershire. Perhaps they are dust particles picked up by the
flash, although they are persistently found on the entire series. The
picture above is typical. But in case a physical explanation seems just a
little bit too self-evident, you might want to consider the next image
carefully, taken whilst in the same setting:

Las Vegan Orbs

Kathy from Las Vegas sent a selection of her
favourite orbs, and also a possible 'Shadowman' image, which seems to be a more
rare occurrence.

In the above picture with the dog, the left hand
orb might be dust. But compare it with the brighter orb to the right,
which appears to be in motion. This seems a rather unusual object,
semi-luminous and coloured.

Some of these orbs have been blown
up and rendered with a selection of paint-packages by a friend of Kathy's.
Like an old familiar recipe, the exact compliment of photo-suites used is a
closely guarded secret, it appears. Certainly, the images are knock-out.
We particularly like the third orb, which seems to contain a strong
visualisation of a human face.

Is this a "Shadowman"? To our
eyes, the depth and timbre of the colour of the shadow does not work within the
general context of the rest of the photo. It seems anomalous. Does
anyone else have Shadowmen images out there to compare with?

Again, this has been
rendered with a paint package, but is illuminating nonetheless. The
hues are quite spectacular. Is this some kind of portal through which
the spirits beyond move into our reality? It's hard to say, but the
aesthetic of the orb is remarkable in itself. A mandala, perhaps.

Down on the Farm

This photo was taken by
Sean Inglis at his farm. He has sent us further close-up image of some
of the orbs in this, and other digital images. There are parts of this
barn which Sean feels uncomfortable entering at night, and photos taken
nearby after twilight have picked up orbs. The above image is superb,
though, and seems authentic enough given Sean's correspondence with us.
So make of it what you will; is this a bona fide ghost caught on camera?

Kaitlyn
Barone's Orbs

Here are some remarkable photos absolutely
crammed full of orbs, taken during a visit to a graveyard. The clothes
worn by the gentlemen shown would indicate that it was a dry evening, which
rules out water droplets as a source for these orbs.

Chaz
Brand, one of those present, writes: "The photos were taken in Oak Grove
cemetery ( the old one on the right hand side off I-69). We pulled up and we
got out and we immediately start snapping photos, we got lots of orbs right
off the bat, we went to the witches pit ( supposedly where a women was set
afire back in the early stages of my town). The pole where she was
tied still stands and it is burned like it was in flames.

"I tried to do an evp with
a little 1 minute voice recording on my friends digital camera but we got
nothing, just orbs.... For the feeling I think we were all a little scared
we didn't hear and voices all three times we tried to do an evp.
As far as I know a couple pictures are faces.. One in the leaves and one
just over my head.. we didn't see any human figure of a ghost or anything
like that.. but the orbs it was like a party or something; they were all out
chit chatting with each other, having a good time.. it was a really cool
feeling... they were all taken after 10:30 PM"

Fireworks
Night

I don't have much
information on these photos, but these is a possibility that the orbs
were generated as lens flares from the bright yellow reflected light
from the pick-up truck. Again, the structure of the orbs could be
a result of the internal dynamics of the camera. However, the
photos were taken with a flash, and the yellow light source that would
have to have created these 'flares' is simply reflected light from the
camera flash. Would this be sufficient to create such strong lens
flares? I'm not so sure.

Amsterdam Orbs

"Hi Andy. I'm an avid
reader of your Dark Star website. I know you go ghost hunting a lot
so I figured this picture might be of interest to you. Its from my
brother and his wife's trip to Amsterdam. The orb is huge.

"All of the
pictures were taken with a Cannon Powershot S400, sometimes the flash
was on other times it wasn't. Most of the orb pics were taken in the New
Church (despite its name it is still 600 years old). My brother
also claims he scoured the pictures right after he found the first orb
and that since then more orbs have appeared in the pictures, like they
all know it's okay to show themselves to us now. He also took a lot of
pictures at the Old Church. He said no orbs appeared in those photos
though.

"If you look at
photos 1 and 2 it looks like the same huge orb in both pictures. I was
worried that it was in the same spot and that would make it a smudge or
something but it actually moves up and to the left in the second
picture. My brothers wife thinks that its her grandmother and that it
wanted to move closer and be in the picture in photo 2. Her reasoning
behind this is that her grandmother is Dutch. Just something to think
about. I also found it interesting that there are orbs of different
colours, which should rule out dust or waterspots."
Name withheld

I also
find it interesting that the light orb effect is repeated in the two
photos. The light is coming from behind the couple, to their
left, the photographer's right. Are these lens flares? Look at the shape
of the orbs; their 'fingerprint' seems exactly the same.
That's odd. Here are some more pictures, this time taken in churches in
Amsterdam: his touring relatives clearly enjoyed visiting the
religious iconography of the city:

I love this picture. There's so
much going on; fast moving orbs, coloured orbs, faint but large orbs and
remarkably light reflections on the floor. If the church is
just dusty, then the pristine, shiny floors certainly don't give that
impression.

Again, some really
strong, coloured orbs. The purple orbs to the right have dark
patterns within them, reminding me of stained glass. Indeed, in
the complete photo there are windows high up on the right hand wall.
although it's not clear whether these are stained glass or not.
Are these lens flares picking up the colour and refraction patterns of
the stained glass windows? Perhaps. There remains the
possibility that the church is host to spirits. They certainly are
beautiful orbs, aren't they?